Dubai:
The $40 billion Egyptian project of Arabtec, Dubai’s largest construction firm, has been temporarily suspended, a report said, triggering a fall of nearly 3 per cent in its shares.
“Anyone who wants to invest in the Egyptian market should get his money from abroad rather than Egyptian banks to carry out the projects, involving Egyptian workforce and materials. These conditions have not been met, thus the project was temporarily suspended,” Major General Kamel Al Wazeer, Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces’ Engineering Authority of Egypt, was reported as saying.
Arabtec could be immediately reached for a comment.
The project, which was set to start in the third quarter of 2014, went into uncertainty after the resignation of former CEO, Hassan Ismaik in June. Rumours during then circulated that Arabtec was no longer committed to the Egyptian project.
A few months later, however, Arabtec said it will commence the $40 billion project, and confirmed that it has made progress with the Egyptian side. The company also released a statement confirming the importance of the project, which it considered strategic, bringing profitable returns.
Shares of Arabtec on the Dubai Financial Market ended 2.9 per cent lower at Dh2.97.
